Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, Azerbaijani: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای - Seyyid Əli Xameneyi, pronounced  ( listen); born 17 July 1939), is an Iranian politician as the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja. In 2010, Forbes selected him 26th in the list of 'World's Most Powerful People'.

He was president of Iran from 1981 to 1989, and has been Supreme Leader of Iran since June 1989 when the Assembly of Experts appointed him to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He has been described as one of only three people having "important influences" on the Islamic Republic of Iran (the other two being the founder of the republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the president of Iran for much of the 1990s, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani). So far, the biggest challenge to his leadership has been the mass protests following the June 2009 presidential elections. Khamenei, however, continued to strongly support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies and re-election. Khamenei was the victim of an attack aimed to assassinate him in June 1981 which paralyzed his right arm.

The origin of Ali Khamenei family is from Tafresh in today Markazi province .the ancestors of Ali Khamenei had migrated from their original home in Tafresh to Tabriz.Born in Mashhad, he is second eldest of eight children, and two of his brothers are also clerics. His younger brother, Hadi Khamenei, is a notable newspaper editor and cleric. Ali Khamenei is half Iranian Azeri and his mother is a Yazd-native